Jordi Ràfols is the founder and CEO of Innoget.com, one of the largest online open innovation networks. He has more than 20 years of experience working on open innovation and technology transfer, and internet business. He has been directly involved in hundreds of open innovation projects in a wide range of different industries and has worked with several international companies in the evaluation, development, and deployment of their open innovation programs. 

As part of the Catalan national program “Startup Catalonia,” he acted as a business coach for technology-based startups, helping them to develop and implement their strategy and accelerate business growth. He has been a managing partner at Science2Society.eu, one of the largest EU-funded projects in the field of technology transfer and open innovation aimed at developing new processes to enhance industry-academia collaboration. 

Jordi holds an MBA at ESADE Business School and a corporate finance degree at IE (Instituto de Empresa in Madrid) and has been involved in corporate venture and valuation projects. As an innovation conference speaker, he has shared his view on open innovation and collaborative R&D and innovation ecosystems in many international and cross-industries events in Berlin, London, Edinburgh, Boston, Paris, Singapore, and Barcelona. He has also given lectures to MBA program alumni at ESADE Business School on online open innovation business models.

Nishtha Gupta brings over 9 years of global technology experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and biotech IT industry. Nishtha held various roles in data analytics and business analytics and intelligence.

Nishtha is currently a Business and Technology Consultant at GlaxoSmithKline and works in R&D space on emerging digital technologies and intelligent automation initiatives such as RPA, AI/ML chatbots, and advanced analytics.

She holds an Engineering degree in Biotech along with dual master’s degrees – MS in Biotechnology from Georgetown University and MBA. She also holds a certificate in AI from MIT.

She has a strong passion for data, science, and technology. In addition to technology, Nishtha is very passionate about developing programs on gender parity and organizational leadership development and leads programming and facilitation for GSK’s Women Leadership Initiative and GSK’s Tech Inclusion and Diversity Council. She also leads programs for Healthcare Business Women Association’s (HBA) and is Global Lead for HBA at GSK.

As Orange Startups Studio Founder, Nicolas entices Orange employees to engage as intrapreneurs, bring their ideas to life within Orange business, and be the change they want to see. Nicolas is equally a passionate expert for innovation centers exploring new business, and a dashing booster of "bottom-up" or "local" innovation over Orange footprint in Africa and the Middle-East.

International speaker (TEDx), delivering Google Academy Masterclasses, and Tech/Business Schools, laureate of the ISPIM Prize for innovation management, Nicolas is Writer of RapidInnovation.fr and The Intrapreneurs' Factor.

He joined the adhesive technologies business unit of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA as corporate director of strategy and business development in December 2010. In April 2013, he became head of new business development, with responsibility for identifying and evaluating innovation opportunities through strategic fore­sight management, scouting, startup screening, venturing and incubation. In 1996 he joined Celanese Chemicals, where he worked in operations, new busi­ness development and then led a global R&D and new business development team, gained experience as area sales manager in the United States, and ran the Celanese emulsions textile and engineered fabrics business in Europe as well as their global glass fibre business. Paolo holds a PhD in chemical engineering from RWTH Aachen, Germany.

César Vega is the Americas R&D Director for Innovation & Product Expert teams for Barry Callebaut. He has over 15 years of experience in the areas of Innovation and Innovation management in the food industry across different geographies (Mexico, India, UK, The Netherlands, and the US). 

He earned his MSc & Ph.D. in Food Science from the University of Guelph (Canada) & University College Cork (Ireland), respectively. His passion for the science of cooking drove him also to obtain a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu (Canada) and later to edit & co-author the book “The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food & Cooking” (Columbia University Press, 2012).

Throughout his career, he has developed a deep technical & consumer understanding of a wide spectrum of areas including ice cream, cocoa & chocolate, nougat, pulses, and meat alternatives. He has worked for leading FMCG companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Mars, Inc. He is an advisory board member for Ergo Biosciences SAS, a biotech start-up developing vegetable cell tissues able to express animal proteins such as myoglobin and casein.

Since June ‘19, as R&D Director at Barry Callebaut, he is responsible for the co-creation of the innovation agenda for the Americas for the deployment of technical expert support of innovation projects and the continuous development of the Regional technical talent pipeline. 

Dr. Vega has a passion for understanding how individuals assign value to food and how that shapes their choices. He has embedded a Design Thinking approach to innovation for more than eight years. He is convinced that organizations must focus on value proposition design as opposed to mere product development. 

He is also a consummated cook. He was an expert reviewer for Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine; he is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science (Elsevier) and Food Biophysics (Springer) and has appeared as a Food Science expert for National Geographic’s documentary series “The history of Latin Food in America.”

He lives with his wife Elizabeth, his son Lucas and daughter Josephine in the suburbs of Chicago.

Dr. Andre Chieffi works at P&G’s Newcastle Innovation Centre (UK), where he leads the global formulation strategy for powder detergents.

Before joining P&G in 2002, he studied chemistry (BSc and Ph.D.) at Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) and University of Waterloo (Canada) and did a postdoc at MIT (US). At P&G, Andre worked most of his career at the Newcastle Innovation Centre (UK), working on the development of new technologies for sustainable cleaning products (e.g., enzymes, polymers, bleach, encapsulation, and active delivery systems).

Andre also spent two years in Brazil (2012/2013) leading P&G´s Open Innovation program for Latin America.

Raghavendra is General Manager/Head-Innovation Strategies and Business Ecosystem at Robert Bosch Technical and Business Solutions, GmBH Germany. He is currently responsible for application of new technologies like Blockchain, AI and Analytics for new Businesses. His responsibilities include developing new markets at the intersections of new Technology and Environment trends. Senior Technology leader with Global experiences of working across Multiple Sectors (Automotive-Diagnostics, Infotainment, Embedded lifecycle management, Space research, Sales and Marketing other) in Germany, Brazil, Japan, China and India for more than 15 years. Proven track record of concept-to-product development in the Telemat­ics, Diagnostics, and Engineering Measurement data management. Expertise in mobilizing and leading large cross-functional teams, conducting market research, developing business relevant innovation models and acquisition-to-delivery of large global projects. Adept at handling global delivery, creating and implementing strategic initiatives to augment scope of business and growth, establishing ODCs and centers of competence. Expertise in mobiliz­ing and leading large cross-functional teams, conducting market research, developing busi­ness relevant innovation models and acquisition-to-delivery of large global projects. Prior to joining Bosch, Raghavendra has served in Wipro Technologies and Indian Space Research Organization as a Scientist.

Carlos, Sngular’s Chief Innovation Officer, is highly experienced in developing new business models, products, and services using the latest digital technologies. Carlos, who joined Sngular in 2010, leads a multidisciplinary team dedicated to providing end-to-end innovation support, from value propositions and PoC development, to roll-out strategies. Drawing on his experience managing Agile teams, Carlos also helps companies transform, adopting Agile methodologies to work more rapidly and efficiently. Previously, as Business Development Director for Sngular, he facilitated the company’s entry into new industries, including retail, distribution, and hospitality which contributed to Sngular’s growth in Spain and beyond.

Carlos earned his computer engineering and MBA degrees from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and is a regular contributor and professor of innovation and digital strategy at this university. He is also an active mentor with Technovation Challenge, a global initiative to attract girls and women aged 9-18 years of age to STEM careers, and is an active keynote speaker and blogger.

Dr. Anju Brooker holds a PhD from Cambridge University in organometallic chem­istry and is a principal scientist at Procter & Gamble with 26 years’ experience. She has led product initiatives and technology development programmes of novel cleaning products for the global fabric and household care. Seen as one of the company’s key technical experts with a track record for managing large open in­novation collaborative partnership, Anju led a €3.4 million, 10-member FP-7 con­sortium programme as a project coordinator with universities, non-compete and multinational companies. She was also technical coordinator of a pan European €3.9 million Marie Curie ITN programme. In addition, she has extensive experi­ence in leading academic research projects, commercial innovation programmes with a range of large companies and SMEs. She’s a co-inventor on more than 25 granted patents and a number in the pipeline of which several inventions have been executed in the global market and over 20 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals. Seen as a thought leader in developing new innovations in application of nanotechnologies in cleaning products within P&G, she received the prestigious innovator John Smale Award. She currently holds a position of member on the UK’s Engineering & Physical Science Research Council Strategic Advisory Team and the Strategic Advisory Network for Circular Economy UK and is a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for Leeds University UK. She was formerly leader for the colloid and polymer science community of practice global network and co-leader of equality-diversity and inclusion network for European Procter & Gamble centres.

Catalyst. Engineer. Designer. Gregory has made a career of producing work that startles, gets the job done, and continually pushes boundaries in a broad range of fields that encompass the artistic as well as the practical and scientific. He is the creator of the iGNITE Convergence Program in design, engineering and finance for innovation and new product development having been delivered to 1000’s globally since it’s creation in 2005; founder of iGNITIATE, an innovation strategy and industrial design firm specializing in disruptive design — the art and science of creating new and innovative products and services that can transform a product category, shake up a market, and ensure global firms’ continued growth; and also the co-founder of the international, Elle Decor and Architectural Digest, award-winning design brand gregorysung. Polletta is a true 21st-century Renaissance man whose R&D, start-ups and designs span many fields, including furniture, lighting, objects, nanotechnology, architecture ( where he and his team designed the worlds 1st moving pin facade system, TOPIADE for the Louis Vuitton Architecture Dept in 2006 ), medical device technology, computer memory devices, mobile phones, software, and consumer product packaging. He and his team have brought high-tech R&D, design ( such as REUTPALA for the World Retail Congress and presented to Alberto Alessi as a lifetime achievement award ) to bear for such clients as Guzzini, Roche Bobois, Fujitsu, Louis-Vuitton, Pfizer and many others. Prior to iGNITIATE, Gregory worked at the legendary Xerox PARC Labs, the American Management System Center for Advanced Technology, DARPA / Lawrence Livermore National Labs and may ohers. Gregory was named the 2014 most inspirational professor at France’s Grande Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées ENPC PhD Engineering and MBA program; a professor at the ENPC Paris Tech d.school; Parsons School of Design, Paris; the Royal College of Art, London; the Lucerne School of Art and Design, Switzerland and many other universities globally on the topics of design, industrial design, strategic management, R&D methods, leadership, entrepreneurship, new product development and innovation.

Andy is a former CTO at a billion-dollar FTSE 250 multinational manufacturer with over 30 years’ experience in delivering business growth through new technologies all over the world. He is the founder of TTIP Consulting, the Strategic Innovation Company, and author of the books ‘Transforming Technology into Profit’ and ‘Cracking the Innovation Code.’ Andy is a regular speaker at conferences, events, and business schools on the subject of ‘How to Unlock Innovation in Business.’

Andy is going to talk to us about what he has learned over 30 years in business about the Barriers to Successful R&D Commercialisation and how to overcome them.